In a rare moment of carelessness, Ardy Brickfuss sprinkles 4.26 x 1022 molecules of sucrose (C12H22O11) on his breakfast cereal. Calculate the mass of sucrose involved in this blunder.

Answer 1

The concepts here you need to know:

(a) Avogadro's number: there are 6.022 × 10²³ molecules/mol.

(b) The molar mass of sucrose (in g/mol). Use the periodic table to calculate this. If you need help with this, please review, contact me for further assistance, or wait for willing other volunteers to give you the answer.

With (a) and (b), can you use basic math to figure out the answer?

Answer 2

So, I will be the "willing volunteer" referred to by @Michael X, and will go through the actual calculations. Hopefully, you will understand the approach and be capable of performing subsequent calculations, as needed.

The molar mass of sucrose (C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁) is 342 g / mole (hopefully, you can do this calculation)

Avogadro's number is 6.022x10²³ molecules / mole

Convert 4.26x10²² molecules of sucrose to moles of sucrose:

4.26x10²² molecules x 1 mole / 6.022x10²³ molecules = 0.0707 moles of sucrose

Convert 0.0707 moles of sucrose to grams of sucrose (mass):

0.0707 moles x 342 g / mole = 24.2 g of sucrose (rounded to 3 significant figures)